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Coffee certified by the Rainforest Alliance is guaranteed to be sustainably grown, supporting both the wellbeing of native ecosystems and the farmer's economic and agricultural well-being. Consumer Reports rates this eco-label with the frog inside as "highly meaningful".

Find it! Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee roasters

Before you buy

Check the label to see how much of your coffee purchase is actually Rainforest Certified. In some cases, as much as 70 percent of the coffee in a single container can come from uncertified sources and still be labeled as Rainforest Certified. If this happens to be the case, the labeling will denote this to avoid misleading consumers. Lower percentages of Rainforest Alliance certified coffee can still make a monumental difference—especially when sold by mainstream companies such as Kraft—for farmers making the shift to sustainable growing methods.

Also note that some, but not all, Rainforest Alliance Certified coffees may be organic. If you're seeking organic coffee, make sure that the label boasts the USDA's Certified Organic label.

Choosing Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee helps you go green because…

• It's grown to safeguard natural habitats—by requiring shade cover, protecting waterways, and using minimal to no chemicals—while ensuring the fair treatment of farmers.

The impetus for the Rainforest Alliance certification program was this: forests in the tropics were being felled to make way for agricultural expansion, destroying valuable wildlife habitat, contaminating waterways, and eroding the delicate soil, leaving the land ultimately unproductive after a few years. To protect the environment in these threatened areas, the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN), a coalition of nonprofit conservation groups from Belize, Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, and a watchdog group in Denmark joined forces to create the Rainforest Alliance. The organization was designed to be a unique program, managed by a conglomeration of local groups who understand the conditions, problems, governments, cultures, and ecology involved in cocoa farming.

Coffee farmers who want to be certified by the Rainforest Alliance must meet the guidelines set forth by SAN. These include ecosystem and wildlife conservation, integrated crop management, humane treatment of workers, complete management of wastes, soil and water conservation, as well as ongoing planning and monitoring. Certified farms are inspected annually and must show continued progress in areas such as improving vegetative buffers between production areas and buildings, water bodies, and roads, and working to reduce the number of minors employed at harvest time.

Sales of Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee have grown from 7 million pounds in 2003 to 54.7 million pounds in 2006. It's projected that Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee beans will represent around 5 percent of the global coffee market by 2012. Partnerships (secured in 2007) with McDonald's UK, the Holiday Inn chain of hotels in the US, and Whole Foods Market locations in the US and Canada play a role in the anticipated growth of Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee.

Related health issues

The caffeine found in both conventional and organic coffee is known to be an addictive stimulant and, when not consumed in moderation, can lead to health-related issues such as increased heart rate and blood pressure. Heavy coffee consumption can also yellow the teeth. Additionally, heath risks can arise from the chemical residue on pesticide-sprayed, conventionally grown coffee.

Glossary

• Bird Friendly coffee: A variation of Latin American shade-grown coffee, certified by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, that is guaranteed to be both shade-grown and certified organic by a third-party.

External links

• Coffee Blog
• Coffee and Conservation
• CoffeeGeek - The Basics of Ethical Coffees
• Tea and Coffee - Sustainable Coffee Goes to the Market